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We couldn't find a camera compatible with Windows Hello Face

Anonymous
2023-03-15T10:02:25+00:00

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T15g Gen 1 running Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit. I am having trouble trying to setup Windows Hello Face.

The initial problem was that the setup proceeded all the way to the phase where it showed my face and was supposed to recognize it, but then nothing happened and the only option available was to cancel the setup. In order to solve that issue I did according to the instructions here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hello/facial-recognition-not-working-for-windows-10/0253a932-4313-4536-858d-abebb50bfad9 i.e. removed the camera drivers ("Integrated Camera" and "Integrated IR Camera") and one driver with "Hello" in its name (can't recall the exact name anymore) from Device Manager. The camera drivers appeared back automatically but the Hello driver does not even if I scan for hardware changes.

Now after doing that the Windows Hello Setup does not even start but shows the error message "We couldn't find a camera compatible with Windows Hello Face" (see the screenshot). I contacted Lenovo support and they say the camera is compatible (after all, it showed the video in the setup before I removed the drivers), also the camera cannot be physically broken because no other application has any problems using it. Lenovo's solution would have been to reimage the whole computer, which I obviously cannot do because I have all my vital work related stuff installed in it.

So I'm quite stuck now and afraid to try things arbitrarily as my earlier attempt to do so only made the situation worse. My own guess is this has something to do with the drivers but I don't know where to get drivers that are definitely compatible with my device and will make this work. Help from anyone who understands how this thing works will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in

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  1. JosephT71 9,215 Reputation points
    2023-03-21T20:08:27+00:00

    As you have noticed, I am the only person in this thread that actually listened to you and give you useful advice so far.

    Next time when you have problems, don't do these things:

    1. don't follow very old advice (your initial post linking to a forum post from 2017). Follow 6 year old advice is always wrong.
    2. never listen to anyone who doesn't ask any questions but then tell you to either delete or revert to an old driver. The first question asked should be what driver version you have and can I find you a newer driver. Reverting to an older driver without first trying to find a newer driver first is always wrong.
    3. never listen to anyone who just randomly listed a bunch of weblinks that doesn't do anything. That youtube video (paused at 5:38), you will see that this guy doesn't even have an infrared camera in his laptop (HP wide vision hd is just a normal webcam) and he is giving a video tutorial on the subject that he knows nothing about. His video never showed that he fixed the issue because he never had an infrared camera to begin with so the warning statement "we couldn't find a compatible camera" is correct.

    You can try actually uninstalling your 2 cameras in the device manager, reboot and let your computer to reinstall the 2 cameras --- hopefully triggering the computer into reinstalling the windows hello face software device. Please paused bitlocker when you tried this.

    https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Face-recognition-stopped-working/td-p/7772495

    If the computer doesn't reinstall the 2 camera automatically --- then re-install the oem lenovo driver (10.13.19041.28) first and then update the driver (10.13.22000.21) from the weblink I posted afterward. It's a 2 step process that all post 2018 DCH drivers (where graphics/audio/touchpad configuration app is downloaded from the Microsoft store) have to do or else really bad things could happen as stated by Intel.

    Can I Use the 'INF/Have-disk installation’ for a Windows*... (intel.com)

    Notice I never told you to delete stuff or revert to old drivers or uninstall stuff until all other options have been tried.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-21T12:04:00+00:00

    Hello Greg,

    Thanks for the message. I tried all that. Here's a few notes along the way of doing them:

    1. Thegeekpage, I skipped the driver things as that's what I've already been doing for quite some time (see earlier messages for more details.)
    2. I have the optional feature named "Windows Hello Face" installed but not one named "Facial Recognition (Windows Hello)". Now I uninstalled and reinstalled "Windows Hello Face" as advised in the YouTube video but that didn't solve the problem.
    3. Windows Biometric Service is running and set to be started automatically. I stopped it for the duration of deleting the contents C:\Windows\System32\WinBioDatabase. That did not solve the problem.
    4. System file checker said it found and fixed something, but that did not solve the problem.
    5. Reinstalling Face Driver either did not really do anything or did it very quickly as it just gave a messagebox saying "completed" or something like that.
    6. I think the contents behind the Lenovo link did not apply to my system.
    7. The partitionwizard link did not contain anything new after the previous steps.
    8. The YouTube video suggests the Device Manager item I have said before I uninstalled which does not appear back could have been "Windows Hello Face Software Device". I did not find a place where to get it safely and without bundleware.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-16T07:41:27+00:00

    Thank you for the reply. I am running running Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit.

    I tried installing a camera driver I downloaded from the Lenovo site you gave a link to. It did not change anything. I think I had already tried that before.

    Here's a screenshot of my Device Manager

    ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/4340bdcc-f3dc-42bf-a304-ec8239770e34?platform=QnA

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  4. Virginia M 41,105 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-03-15T11:39:36+00:00

    https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/products/laptops-a...

    The device is listed as having an optional IR camera so please ensure this is the case.

    Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products).

    Please do not download any repair tool which may be offered by this site other than the ones I mention/recommend.

    Thoroughly research any product which is mentioned here before you decide to download and install it.

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  5. Virginia M 41,105 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-03-15T11:35:53+00:00

    Hello, I’m Virginia, a fellow user like yourself.

    Sorry to hear you’re experiencing problems. May I ask which Windows 10 build are you running - 20H2, 21H1, 21H2 or 22H2?

    You might have to reinstall an older driver via the device’s entry within device manager if it doesn’t show then check under show hidden devices.

    Right click device.

    Choose update driver.

    Choose ‘browse my computer for drivers’.

    Choose ‘let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer’.

    Choose the compatible hardware from the list, then choose next.

    Choose one of the older drivers from the list shown, then click next.

    This will then reinstall the driver.

    You would usually find the driver on Lenevo’s website. I will check for you.

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